Thursday, August 12, 2010

Scientists are dumb

Not all scientists are dumb though... just the dumb ones. I just finished watching "Expelled," a documentary by Ben Stein (from Win Ben Stein's Money or popularly know as the monotone professor in Ferris Bueller's Day Off). In this documentary, Ben goes about showing scientists who have been "expelled" from their positions in academia and research because of their difference in opinion regarding intelligent design.

A little background information will help to better understand this issue. Most scientists in power at universities and government agencies believe in evolution as the origin of species or life. Now there is a difference between the fact that things evolve and the theory (and I do mean theory) of evolution. It can be proved that species change over time due to natural selection, such as Darwin proposed, this is evolution. The theory of evolution, which some scientists adamantly adhere to, states that all life stems from one cell that randomly came together to form the first life form. This theory has not been proven (nor can it be). Intelligent design proponents assert that the possibility for random atoms molecules to come together independently and form life is so low that it is near impossible (like 1 in a googolplex or even at best estimates winning the jackpot on a slot machine 250 in a row). So instead of a random event, life was created by or at least guided by some sort of intelligent being (whether it be God, Allah, aliens, or something else... though I hope "Knowing" wasn't right). Intelligent does not state that one way or another is wrong or right but just possible (hey look open mindedness).

So in the documentary, the scientists are either strict theory of evolution believers, intelligent design believers, or neither but are punished because the said intelligent design might be a possibility. I am not going to say one is right or wrong but I will say that the scientists that do are wrong. Those interviewed in the documentary that are in favor of the theory evolution state it as a fact or a law based on the fact that evolution exists. However they base this law on theories that are unproven. Life must have randomly been generated and the current theories are primordial soup (a pool of all the essential elements is struck by lightening to form life) and grown on crystals (essential proteins are grow on the back of crystals). The former is all but disproved and the latter is now where near being proven. So obviously the scientists that believe the theory of evolution to be the immutable truth are just full of themselves because their law is based on unproven theories. As I am sure the same would apply to those that adhere strictly to intelligent design.

My point is this scientist need to accept idea where ever they come from. They don't need to believe them but they shouldn't shun them either. If it isn't right, prove or prove your own idea but don't shut it out because it is different. If we always received new or different ideas with hostility we would still think the world is flat and has four corners. Information should be free to everyone not just those in power or authority.